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Rhayader's maps


Amiratasiru
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I sometimes get interested in mapping, but never commit to completing a map or being happy with one. After looking at some of Bky's I gained some inspiration to try my hand at mapping. I'd appreciate some pointers on what I should improve on.

To start out, I only have two maps; one I did at the start of the year and the other I finished minutes ago.

First, the one less recent...

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And the new one.

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Edited by Rhayader
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I really like these :0

One thing I think you should change are the paths in the second one, though; IMO they should be more broken up

There's also 5 forts reeeeeally close by, and only a few tiles of passage between the top and bottom parts (although that doesnt matter if its not going in a romhack, i guess)

Edited by Bky
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Uguu, my map idol remain calm

I don't really have anything planned for these maps yet. I've been brainstorming romhack/FEXNA ideas but that's about it, I'm not good at keeping at an idea. Though, I am approaching the design as I would if it were to be in a romhack.

Yeah, I realised that 5 forts so close was a little much. The idea was once you get close to that area they spawn 1-2 waves of soldiers, cavaliers, etc. but that's a little much so close together. I changed it around a bit, giving it a more refined direction for you to take, opening it up a little more and also getting rid of two of the forts.

91d1c7cd5a.png

Look better now?

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It looks a lot better now that it's more cleared up, but paths are usually more broken up, i.e. ch15 from fe7

15.png

also some more things that bug me

ytP1n5z.png

Uguu, my map idol remain calm

omg this made my day

Edited by Bky
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Cool maps. They look fairly clean, though maybe a little generic at the moment...(nothing standing out to me, but on the flip side perhaps that means that it fits well with the style?) Got more?

Edited by TheErrantShepherd
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Cool maps. They look fairly clean, though maybe a little generic at the moment...(nothing standing out to me, but on the flip side perhaps that means that it fits well with the style?) Got more?

Thanks for the kind words, I honestly didn't expect such a small amount of criticism!

A work in progress. I'm using this map as a way of getting better at doing mountains. I think I'm getting the hang of it, it's just that all the pieces look so similar in the tileset so I'm finding myself spending a couple minutes just to find one tile. Dunno what I'm doing with the top half yet.

28fdd7562c.png

It looks a lot better now that it's more cleared up, but paths are usually more broken up, i.e. ch15 from fe7

15.png

also some more things that bug me

ytP1n5z.png

Yeah, I picked up on that as well, so I got rid of it. I also Opened up the area with the lone fort, giving you two ways to the castle. The thought process was that way is shorter, but you have to face more enemies from that angle at once but has a fort so you can salvage it, whereas the top area you can face them at a slower pace.

bffd41e36d.png

omg this made my day

wew :~)

Edited by Rhayader
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Your village map is pretty solid, well done.

The mountains in the Bern map all have the same general shape: Run Northwest to Southeast with a staircase pattern. I encourage you to play around with the shaping to come up a smoother design.

Also, the light grass is very rectangular. Try rounding it out more.

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I like your maps they're very nice! My favorite of them is the first one.

Thank you! Words like these will give me the confidence to get better at mapping!

Your village map is pretty solid, well done.

The mountains in the Bern map all have the same general shape: Run Northwest to Southeast with a staircase pattern. I encourage you to play around with the shaping to come up a smoother design.

Also, the light grass is very rectangular. Try rounding it out more.

Surprised I'm getting so much positivity for the village map. To be honest cause I had never done maps before when I made it so I used the generator to get the wall shapes.

Thanks for the pointers on the mountains, I had been having trouble trying to bend them towards the right side because I'm finding it difficult to get used to the tiles. I'm thinking about making the map larger though towards the left side, with you starting on the right.

4d03227db1.png

Edited by Rhayader
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erg i don't like all of those straight-lined peaks in a row; just looks very spammy

best ref I think that exists in gbafe for mountains would be... ugh I really don't like a lot of them. Ch23B is pretty okay though, ch21 is stretching though

the only way to get better with them though is to just do them a lot and try new combinations; you never know what might end up working(it's the only way I figured them out)

oceans on the other hand...

the cliffs are kind of boring in their current composition, but there's-- well no there are a few small tile errors but nothing substantial. I'd advice against using a lot of consecutive cliffs together in general though; it ends up looking weird(at least to me)

as for the other maps uhhh

village is pretty simple and standard, I don't see any technical errors with it... at least ones that are your fault and not the tileset's limitations

the second one is very cramped; you don't need to fill 80% of the map with landmarks in overworld maps, but some people seem to like doing that so again, that's my opinion. the mountains on that one are better than on your latest one though, I like 'em

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erg i don't like all of those straight-lined peaks in a row; just looks very spammy

best ref I think that exists in gbafe for mountains would be... ugh I really don't like a lot of them. Ch23B is pretty okay though, ch21 is stretching though

the only way to get better with them though is to just do them a lot and try new combinations; you never know what might end up working(it's the only way I figured them out)

oceans on the other hand...

the cliffs are kind of boring in their current composition, but there's-- well no there are a few small tile errors but nothing substantial. I'd advice against using a lot of consecutive cliffs together in general though; it ends up looking weird(at least to me)

as for the other maps uhhh

village is pretty simple and standard, I don't see any technical errors with it... at least ones that are your fault and not the tileset's limitations

the second one is very cramped; you don't need to fill 80% of the map with landmarks in overworld maps, but some people seem to like doing that so again, that's my opinion. the mountains on that one are better than on your latest one though, I like 'em

Yeah, the cliffs do look a little boring, I didn't really realise it until you pointed it out. I think it's cause unlike the first map this is my first attempt at making much larger mountains.

This took a fair bit longer than expected. I feel I may have put down a few too many forests and I'm not sure if I used the river tiles correctly, but other than that I think the design is pretty good. I attempted to make some of the mountains different but it's generally the same stuff for the most part. I'll give the mountain tileset another shot later, but I think I might try and make an indoors map next which I feel is the true test to making maps with all the certain pieces needed based on the structure, etc.

1663fb017e.png

Edited by Rhayader
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erg, that lake; spamming the river tiles is not what you want to do

take uh... that map from fe7x, ch6 i think it is...

yeah that one, the only one I got an A on...

notice the lake that I highlighted; the use of the water tiles there is correct(or at least looks better); basically using the cliff tiles as well as the lake ones.

Now, if that was specifically done in a fashion so units could cross in and out of the water, then your current iteration is the best for the situation in this tileset(in the normal overworld one, you can just add a beach on ends you want units starting to cross)

as for the rest; I personally am not a fan of flat mountain bottoms, but I don't know if it's exactly incorrect.

Paths are a bit thin, but I think it's pretty good overall.

Keep at it!

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  • 1 month later...
  • 3 months later...

Whoa-ho, late-ass reply. Getting back into mapping. This is currently an idea for the first chapter of a hack-in-progress. I'm thinkin' the map's a little small for its intent, but I like the overall design right now.

The darker spots represent the possible spots some recruitable units will stand.

75e4d3051a.png

Edited by Rhayader
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It looks good so far. I would say put the forts in different locations, just so they are not aligned perfectly. What is the plan for level design? Where will the enemies be stationed?

In this version? Nothing, really. However, I fixed some things and it looks a lot better now.

The idea is you start on the right side and there are archers above you. You have to attempt to reach higher ground to be able to easily take out the archers. You will also recruit two units in the little opening nearby the house who appear as other units so you have to get there quick at the same time.

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I'm also working on another map though it's quite a mess at the moment. Making maps more dominantly based around forests is a lot more difficult than I expected it to be. I'm not really sure where I should focus on the "less is more" philosophy because I've mainly focused on learning how to make mountains when mapping. I'm working on getting the design itself down hence why the ground and tiles are bland.

eddc98ff09.png

Edited by Rhayader
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The northern mountains on the first map look a bit square in some places. I would smoothen those out. If the point of the level is to reach the right side as fast as possible, then I would not bother putting a fort at the start of the map unless it is useful for the player to use a defensive tactic at first. I would remove the fort just north of it as well.

I do not think it is a good idea to mix thicket and forestry the way that you did on the second map. You cannot pass through thicket unless you are a flier (I think). I know that in the tileset there are sets of trees that can be arranged in rows of 9x9 tiles, so that they all mesh together. Look for those tiles specifically and make your forests denser that way, then you can add the odd group of 4 or 3 trees in one tile around the denser ones.

Let me know if you have trouble finding those denser tree tiles.

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The northern mountains on the first map look a bit square in some places. I would smoothen those out. If the point of the level is to reach the right side as fast as possible, then I would not bother putting a fort at the start of the map unless it is useful for the player to use a defensive tactic at first. I would remove the fort just north of it as well.

I do not think it is a good idea to mix thicket and forestry the way that you did on the second map. You cannot pass through thicket unless you are a flier (I think). I know that in the tileset there are sets of trees that can be arranged in rows of 9x9 tiles, so that they all mesh together. Look for those tiles specifically and make your forests denser that way, then you can add the odd group of 4 or 3 trees in one tile around the denser ones.

Let me know if you have trouble finding those denser tree tiles.

OOPS I MEANT YOU START ON THE RIGHT SIDE

Edited by Rhayader
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Ugh I wish my mind was more creative with things like this. I'm probably going to keep it as is for now until I figure out how to make it look better.

A tile to the right of the bridge in the bottom right corner is where an immovable boss stands. You have to escape beyond those trees to complete the chapter.

b604a2f762.png

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I can imagine having flier units going over those cliffs, camping in the fortresses and luring enemies towards them. Meanwhile, the party is following the path south-west and making their way through the forest, towards the bridge in the east.

The map looks great. I'm glad that you found the meshing tree tiles. I hope that you are satisfied with it.

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  • 9 months later...

Reviving a dead thread once more with a couple of new maps I made in the past two days. Nothing special, just wanna see what the experts think of the design direction. Bear in mind the second map is meant to be a cutscene map.

4efcf2d244.png

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Edited by Rhayader
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  • 4 weeks later...

The designs seem OK, I'd be more intrigued to see what enemy placement looks like. With the 1st map, is there any way for you to avoid so much tilespam? It's very... strobing.

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